Coast Guard rescues sailing vessel

The U.S. Coast Guard rescued a disabled Maine sailing vessel Thursday some 50 miles off the Maine coast on its way to New Jersey.

The Raw Faith, which has its home port in the Washington County town of Addison, called the Coast Guard for help at 1:15 a.m. Thursday after the vessel’s rudder was damaged in rough seas and the crew could no longer navigate, according to Lt. Cmdr. Bill Bellatty, spokesman for the U.S. Coast Guard in Boston.

There were no injuries to the six people on the 81-foot vessel, although one person suffered from mild hypothermia, Bellatty said.

Four of the crew were transferred onto the Coast Guard cutter Dependable, which arrived on scene at about 11:30 a.m.

Two other people, including the owner and skipper, George McKay, remained on board.

Bellatty said the Dependable was about 140 miles from the Raw Faith when it was dispatched off the Massachusetts coast.

Bellatty estimated it would take about 15 hours for the cutter to tow the Raw Faith into Portland harbor at a speed of 3 knots. It began its journey back to Maine at about 4 p.m.

The Coast Guard spokesman, a Franklin native, said the Maine vessel did not have good communication equipment when the distress call was made.

Eventually, the vessel’s radio system gave out completely, and a Falcon jet from Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod flew out to the ship and dropped a VHF radio to the crew.

The radio was put into a can and parachuted down to the Maine boat.

Jo Ann McKay, who owns the Raw Faith with her husband, said Thursday in a telephone interview while visiting friends for Thanksgiving that the crew was heading to New Jersey to pick up other people before sailing to Florida for the winter.

The sailboat eventually will be used to give handicapped children and their parents ocean experiences they otherwise could not access.